Matthias Kahle

Matthias Kahle 2005

Matthias Kahle in the Porsche 996 GT3 during the Saxony Rally 2008

Matthias Kahle (born March 4, 1969 in Görlitz ) is a German rally driver . He is German rally champion in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2010 as well as rally runner-up in 1998 and 2003. Matthias Kahle also won the German rally series in 2006 .

Career

Matthias Kahle wanted to become a racing driver even as a child and drove - illegally - with his grandfather's Trabant through the area around his hometown Görlitz. After graduating from high school, he learned to be a system fitter and worked for six years in the lignite mining of Lusatia in order to finance his first rally car.

His active motorsport career began in 1993. He made his debut in a Peugeot 205 GTI in Wittenberg . Just one year later he became German amateur rally champion in a Renault Clio Williams . In 1995 Matthias Kahle made his big breakthrough. He won a Toyota junior driver evaluation and was therefore allowed to participate in selected DRM runs in the factory Toyota in 1996. In the Toyota Celica 4WD , he immediately finished sixth in the German Rally Championship in 1996 .

Just one year later, in 1997, the Görlitz native won his first DRM title on Toyota. This success was repeated Matthias Kahle in 2000 and 2001 in the seat as well as 2002, 2004 and 2005 Škoda Fabia I . In 2006 the DRM was not held and therefore Matthias Kahle started with co-driver Peter Göbel in the German Rally Series in 2006 and won the newly founded championship straight away. In 2007, the German record champions made a guest appearance at their home game, the Lausitz Rally , and drove a seven-year-old Škoda Octavia WRC that Christian Doerr made available to him and finished second in the overall standings. In spring 2008, Kahle founded his own rally team, Kahle Motorsport, and entered the German rally championship with a Porsche 996 GT3 . At his side, the Hamburg software entrepreneur Dr. Thomas M. Schünemann Platz.

In 2010 Matthias Kahle returned to Škoda and competed in the German Rally Championship with a Škoda Fabia S2000. Thanks to two victories, he won the championship again. With 7 titles and 41 victories, Matthias Kahle is by far the most successful driver in the German Rally Championship. In 2011 he won the traditional Wartburgrallye 2011 with his Škoda Octavia WRC. When the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge belonging Rally Scotland , he finished tenth overall.

In addition to his involvement in the German Rally Championship, Matthias Kahle competed in eight World Championship rallies and was among the top ten overall in three races in 1999. His best result was seventh in New Zealand in 1999.

Marathon rallies

Since 2004, Kahle has been taking regular excursions into raid sports. At the UAE Desert Challenge in Dubai 2004 and the Rallye d'Orient 2005 he finished fifth. At the 2006 Dakar Rally he drove up to tenth place until his Fast & Speed buggy went on strike and Kahle had to give up. In 2008, Kahle started the Transorientale Rally with co-driver Thomas Schünemann .

At the 2009 Dakar Rally , Kahle was the winner in the buggy class and 15th in the overall standings. In the following year, Kahle and co-driver Schünemann took second place in the buggy classification and 18th place in the overall ranking.

Private

Matthias Kahle lives in Cologne with his girlfriend and two children. In his spare time he drives motocross , takes photos, grills and likes to work in his garden.

statistics

WRC results

season	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Item
1999	Toyota Castrol Team Germany	Toyota Corolla WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR 8	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE DNF	NZL 7	FIN	CHN	ITA	OUT	GBR 10			-
2001	Matthias Kahle	Seat Cordoba WRC Evo2	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRE DNF	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA	OUT	GBR			-
2002	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3	MON	SWE	FRA	ESP	CYP	ARG	GRE	KEN	FIN	GER DNF	ITA	NZL	OUT	GBR			-
2003	Škoda Auto Germany	Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3	MON	SWE	DOOR	NZL	ARG	GRE	CYP	GER 15	FIN	OUT	ITA	FRA	ESP	GBR			-
2006	Škoda Auto Germany GmbH	Škoda Fabia WRC 05	MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRE	GER DNF	FIN	JPN	CYP	DOOR	OUT	NZL	GBR	-

IRC results

season	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	Points	Item
2011	Škoda Auto Germany	Škoda Fabia S2000	MON	CAN	COR	YAL	YPR	AZO	ZLI 19	MEC 19	SAN	SCO 10	CYP 6	17.5	14th

gallery

Škoda Fabia WRC during the Saxony Rally 2005
Car and Škoda team during maintenance between the ratings
Škoda Octavia WRC in the ring ° boulevard

Web links

Commons : Matthias Kahle - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Kahle, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German rally driver
DATE OF BIRTH	4th March 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH	Goerlitz